The rain has started in Plymouth and is coming down good. I think I will toss on some clothes, go to BJs/Stop & Shop/
Walmart for food. My food is for tomorrows game though.
Some history I stole on hunkering down.....
It sounds like the most typically American of phrases, but it seems originally to have been Scots, first recorded in the eighteenth century.
Nobody seems to know exactly what its origin is, though it has been suggested its linked to the Old Norse huka, to squat; that would make it a close cousin of old Dutch huiken and modern German hocken, meaning to squat or crouch, which makes sense. Thats certainly whats meant by the word in American English, in phrases like hunker down or on your hunkers.
The Oxford English Dictionary has a fine description of how to hunker: squat, with the haunches, knees, and ankles acutely bent, so as to bring the hams near the heels, and throw the whole weight upon the fore part of the feet. The advantage of this position is that youre not only crouched close to the ground, so presenting a small target for whatever the universe chooses to throw at you, but youre also ready to move at a moments notice.
Hunker down has also taken on the sense of to hide, hide out, or take shelter, whatever position you choose to do it in. This was a south-western US dialect form that was popularised by President Johnson in the mid 1960s. Despite its Scots ancestry, hunker is rare in standard British English.
...........Is "hunkering" even a word?
I also stopped for some snacks on the way home waiting for the rain and strong winds to hit Brooklyn.
This thread is bad to read before grocery shopping. I can't believe how much Cheetos costs now ($2.79 at our local store). We bought store brand instead---and plenty of chocolate even though Hanna had already left us.
